Second Straight 11-5 Win Takes SJS Series

Austin Hall got the game-winning RBI in game one on Saturday at San Jose State. (Photo by Jaren Wilkey/BYU Photo)

SAN JOSE -- Coach Sam Piraro finally got his 1000th college coaching victory as San Jose State won the nightcap of a Saturday doubleheader with BYU, 5-3.

For seven straight games Piraro had been seeking that victory in 36 years of coaching, but BYU denied him twice with identical 11-5 victories in the first of a twinbill on Saturday and last Thursday. The Cougars won the series with SJS, 2-1.

Cougar pitcher Kevin Sloan remained undefeated in picking up his fifth victory in the 11-5 victory on Saturday. Sloan pitched 2.1 innings in relief, starting when the game was tied 5-5. Sloan was also credited with the first 11-5 BYU win on Thursday.

Fellow pitcher Chunner Nyberg made a healthy contribution on the heels of Sloan, throwing six innings of shutout ball in the nightcap, but transfer Nick Birch was tagged with the loss in the 5-3 Spartan victory.

"We hit a lot of balls hard and had 11 runners left on base," said BYU coach Vance Law. "We let those guys hang around and had a chance to put them away early and didn't do it. Chunner (Nyberg) did a good job competing and we wanted to bridge it to have (David) McKnight come in and close it for him to get a victory, but it didn't work out. I'm disappointed we didn't get back to .500."

The Cougars, now 12-14, split the doubleheader with the Spartans, who improved to 10-15.

In game one, BYU's Bryce Ayoso hit a two-run double in the third with two outs to score Stephan Wells and Alex Wolfe for a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of that inning Matthew Neil got out of a bases-loaded jam with no out by getting a pair of consecutive strikeouts and a groundout.

Sean McNaughton hit a lead-off double in the fifth and was doubled in by Wolfe. Brandon Relf was on base when that happened and both he and Wolfe later scored on a passed ball and Ryan Bernal’s single to put BYU up 5-0.

San Jose State bounced back to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth at five-all, chasing Neil off the mound. Kevin Sloan replaced Neil and got out of his own jam in the sixth with Spartans on second and third.

Bernal broke the deadlock when he walked, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Austin Hall’s single up the middle in the seventh.

Wells and McNaughton scored in the eighth thanks to three singles, a sacrifice and an error to take an 8-5 lead. Jonathan Cluff then hit a three-run homer to leftfield which scored Bernal and Wolfe as the Cougars took an 11-5 lead.

In game two, BYU took a 2-0 lead in the seventh, but the Spartans took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of that inning. The Cougars tied the game in the eighth, 3-3, but gave up tow more runs in the bottom of that frame.

BYU now readies to host Washington State in a two-game series starting Monday at 3 p.m., at Miller Park. The blue Cougars and red Cougars conclude that series on Tuesday at 1 p.m. All of BYU's games this coming week will be broadcast live on 960 AM and 92.9 FM.